The January sales are now on, but we want to know...

Is bargain hunting online as much fun as on the high street?

As a nation of shopaholics we may not be afraid of giving our wallets a good airing on a regular basis, but even the most spendthrift will admit there's nothing quite like the satisfaction of snaffling a good bargain. While on the one hand we love the hullabaloo of trawling our way through the half-price sale rails, in the last ten years sales via the internet have soared by a staggering 3,500%.

While the impression is that town centres seem to be forever bursting with shoppers, either those crowds are shrinking or we're simply window shopping just to order online when we get home. All the figures indicate that online shopping is relentlessly on the up. In fact award-winning clothing retailer Primark reported last year that their online sales increased by 12% against a fall of 6% in over the counter sales. Total UK internet sales are forecast to reach a staggering £72bn in 2010. But is online bargain hunting really more fun than shopping on the high street?

Every online shopping addict knows that feeling of euphoria induced by the online auction, when you succeed in outbidding your rivals and bag that coveted bargain. The internet also introduces us to thousands of retailers we'd never even see on the high street via price comparison websites. Being able to look through such a wide selection of items in the comfort of our own homes is quite simply addictive and many women in particular will admit to browsing for hours on end, credit card at the ready.

Thanks to developments in web design, the online shopping experience is also becoming a lot more like virtual reality. Not only can we zoom in so close on that dress that we can practically see how the fibres intertwine, we can also twist things round and turn them upside down. On some clothing sites, even short videos of models parading the items on the catwalk are being used to seduce us into a sale. Who knows what the future holds? We may soon find ourselves dressing up our own virtual avatar as a substitute for high street changing rooms.

In just the same way as certain sectors are fearful that instant messaging and social networking is threatening face to face interaction, it looks like we need to be on our guard that online shopping doesn't jeopardise our love of the high street. But as much as we'll admit it's fun to buy online, just like everything in virtual reality, it's no substitute for real life. Alongside the fun of online shopping, real-life shopping has grown into something of a social ritual. Who would want to lose the cameraderie that develops between shopkeepers and customers, the banter between yourself and your fellow shoppers, that golden mid-afternoon break in your shopping, when you settle down for a snack in a coffee shop and peruse your purchases?

There's also something irresistible about the shopping meccas, the bright lights and the adrenaline rush as the items scream 'buy me' from those brightly illuminated shelves; items that come into view at random and not because we've searched for them. And there's nothing quite like the high street for giving us obscure things we'd never find online, whether it's something just too gorgeous to resist, or something we didn't even realise we needed. It's the moments when we stumble upon those little treasures that make lasting memories of our shopping days.